The Collegian
Friday, March 29, 2024

NBC's 'To Catch a Predator' investigator to visit campus

"Dateline NBC" correspondent Chris Hansen will speak at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9, about his series, "To Catch a Predator," and his career in investigative journalism in Camp Concert Hall in the Booker Hall of Music.

The event evolved from a Dennis Hall ritual that began three years ago when students would gather Sunday nights in David Howson's suite to watch the show. Howson lives in Dennis as a part of Richmond College's President's College Associate program.

"It came literally out of a living room conversation," said Howson, the associate director of the Modlin Center for the Arts.

Students who no longer lived in Dennis continued to attend the meetings during following semesters, and the meetings inspired the students to imagine Hansen on campus. Reaching Hansen through NBC would have been difficult, Howson said, but this past June he obtained Hansen's e-mail address from 1997 Richmond alumnus Brian Cavanagh, now the producer of special events at NBC News in New York. To Howson's surprise, Hansen agreed to come to campus right away from his Blackberry.

With the support of Joseph Boehman, dean of Richmond College, Howson gained sponsorship from Richmond College to present the program and began to work withAndy Gurka, University Forest Apartments area coordinator, whom Boehman described as the catalyst for the event in the dean's office.

"This is definitely the highlight of my four years," Gurka said.

Although Gurka credited Howson as the original impetus for bringing Hansen to campus, both acknowledged their pride in the program being a student-generated event. It speaks to the benefit of faculty living in residence halls, Gurka said.

Former Dennis residents agreed.

"It was something I looked forward to every week," sophomore Andrew Slater said. "I think the whole resident professor role in the freshman dorms is a great idea."

Such relations helped qualify the program for Richmond Quest sponsorship for its relevance to the Quest V theme, "How is it connected?" The evaluators of the Quest funding request noted the collaboration by the three faculty members of varying disciplines attached to the proposal: Howson (arts), Tom Mullen (journalism) and William Case (chemistry), who are RC President's College Associates for Dennis, South Court and Gray Court.

"The RC PCA/F program has brought them together to explore their interests and share their passions with the residents of Richmond College. The Chris Hansen project is a natural culmination of the unique student-faculty interaction that happens at Richmond," according to the evaluation in an e-mail from Dana Lascu, Quest co-chairwoman.

As the faculty collaboration reflects, "To Catch a Predator" can appeal to students of all disciplines, Howson said. The series has exposed more than 250 online sexual predators since it premiered in 2004. Instead of the teenagers the men thought they would meet on the Internet during the arranged visit, they were greeted by Hansen and hidden cameras.

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Part journalist and part actor, Hansen blurs the line between investigative journalism and reality television, which draws criticisms concerning ethics, Gurka said.

The show tries people in public, which means they're no longer innocent until proven guilty, and it provokes consideration of the way our society consumes media, he said. Hansen will discuss this during a question-and-answer segment moderated by Mullen following Hansen's talk.

"I think 'Predator,' while it has been very popular, has raised a lot of uncomfortable questions," Mullen said.

Hansen is popular and controversial, creating an effective one-two punch, and the same format that appeals to people on the show should be appealing during his talk, he said.

"People enjoy it, and yet they learn something at the same time," said junior Drew Howell, a former first-year Dennis resident and second-year RA around the corner from Howson's suite.

Howell said it surprised him that most of the predators were "normal" people, and most times from respected professions: policemen, doctors, lawyers and teachers.

Howson said he hoped Hansen would speak also about the rest of his career. Besides "To Catch a Predator," Hansen has investigated other connections during his reporting on "To Catch an ID Thief" in 2007, the counterfeit prescription drug trade in China in 2006, child sex trafficking in Cambodia in 2004 and child slave labor in India's silk trade in 2003. Before joining NBC in May 1993, Hansen was an anchor and investigative reporter for an NBC affiliate in Detroit, after reporting for various stations following his graduation from Michigan State University.

Hansen has won seven Emmy awards for investigative reporting, outstanding coverage of a news story and outstanding coverage of breaking news. He has also received the Overseas Press club award, an Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. award, a National Press Club award and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists award, among other awards for excellence in journalism. Hansen will share his expertise in a journalism student workshop sponsored by the Department of Journalism.

"I give a lot of credit to David ... for this idea and for following through," Mullen said.

Other sponsors for the day's events include the Modlin Center for the Arts and the UR Cultural Affairs Committee, which are providing the venue and financial support, according to Kathleen Panoff, executive director of the Modlin Center and Cultural Affairs Committee member.

Although general admission is free, tickets are necessary. They are available through the Modlin Center Box Office in person or by phone at 804-289-8980. The concert hall holds 600 guests and is expected to fill up quickly, Howson said.

After the talk, there will be a meet and greet with Hansen in the Whitehurst Living Room. The Whitehurst Living Room will also host viewings of "To Catch a Predator" from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 4. Free food and drinks will be offered. Re-runs can also be watched online on the "Dateline" section of www.msnbc.msn.com.

Contact staff writer Maura Bogue at maura.bogue@richmond.edu

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